The IDA is set to spend an estimated €900,000 to increase its presence on the US west coast as part of a bid to secure inward investment here from the next Stripe or Meta.
New tender documents published show that the IDA has put an indicative cost of €900,000 (ex VAT) on a two year contract for public relations services on the US west coast "to help position Ireland as the leading European location for global companies looking to establish or grow their business".
Already, IDA Ireland employs Padilla PR to provide PR services on the east coast of the US and currently the IDA has three company offices on the west coast at Mountain View in northern California, Irvine in southern California and Seattle in Washington.
The tender documentation states that the target audience for the PR agency's communication work will be leading decision makers at leading tech and life sciences firms on the west coast "and those leading fast-growth emerging firms, many of them coming from the unique `Valley’ ecosystem and general Bay area".
The tender states in addition to specific West Coast titles to be targeted, "specialist sites, blogs and tech trade press are expected to be at the centre of the communication activity".
The work of the PR agency will also include implementing a programme that targets "west coast tech influencers and looks to secure interviews with influencers, on their podcast, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media channels".
The work of the PR agency will be building upon a strong IDA track record in securing inward investment from the west coast.
The tender states that 'Bay Area' companies "play a particularly strong role in Ireland with major operations in Ireland".
The tender states that those firms include Airbnb, Alphabet/Google. Applied Materials, Autodesk, Cadence, Cisco, DocuSign, Dropbox, eBay, Fidelity, Fitbit, Gilead, GoFundMe, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Indeed, Intel, LinkedIn, Meta (Facebook), Oracle, PayPal, Salesforce, Slack, Stripe, Twilio, Uber, Udemy, Broadcom, Wells Fargo, Workday and Zendesk.
"For many, Ireland serves as the company’s European headquarters," it adds.
Giving an insight into the IDA sales pitch to US firms looking to expand overseas, the tender states that "Ireland’s attributes include ease of doing business, political stability, a common law legal system, a dynamic R&D ecosystem and an attractive, transparent and stable tax regime. Ireland offers US companies, those involved in regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices and financial services, access to the European regulatory system."
The tender adds that US companies use Ireland as an entry point to the EU, the world’s largest single market.
It states: "From Ireland they gain access to a young highly skilled, English speaking, flexible work force which shares many cultural and historic ties with the US."
The closing date for submission of tenders is March 4th.
- reporting Gordon Deegan
